#MadeByGoogle: Everything From Google’s Pixel Launch Event

Ocotber 4th has come and gone and with it, Google’s second annual hardware showcase has graced us with a sack full of new goodies to talk about, review and marvel about.

We will be covering a number of the new #madebygoogle products in the very near future as they pertain to Chrome Unboxed. For now, we just wanted to give you a quick rundown of everything that Google unveiled at yesterdays event in San Francisco.

PixelBook

Google covered a lot of ground at this year’s event and we are excited about all of it but we flew across the country to see the PixelBook so I will share the rundown of the new Chromebook first. There will be a lot of talk about the PixelBook in the coming weeks as we hope to answer any and all questions you may have.

For now, here are the specifications, pricing and availability for the PixelBook and you can find our hands-on, first impressions here.

Optional Preferred Care with 2 years accident protection and 24/7 live support for your device

Okay, that’s an impressive resumè. We will be talking more about these features and some PixelBook exclusives in the coming days but needless to say, this thing is stunning.

Now, we come to the price. The base model runs $999 with the larger storage, i5 model coming in at $1,199. For those of you willing to wait, the Core i7 PixelBook will set you back $1,649 but availability for this version has yet to be announced.

The PixelBook Pen is an extra $99 but I can tell you that, from our brief time with it, it’s worth the extra Benjamin. With over 2000 levels of pressure sensitivity and its Assistant capabilities, the PixelBook Pen is just incredible.

One item that wasn’t mentioned from the stage is Google’s optional Preferred Care Program. At $249, the “protection plan” may seem a bit steep but the fine print reveals more than just a simple product replacement agreement.

Preferred Care gives you TWO claims on your PixelBook in the two-year span but also grants the owners priority access to 24/7 support and tips for your device. For many users, this may not sound like a deal and the $90, 3-year protection plan from Amazon is a way better deal. However, new-to-Chrome OS consumers could find great benefit in Google’s plan.

Your call.

Google said, from the stage, the PixelBook will be available on October 31st and the Amazon listing reflects this date. This is only for the Core i5 models. Pre-orders opened yesterday and as of now Google, Amazon, Best Buy and BH Photo are taking orders for the PixelBook.

Now I’m going to do a quick-fire of everything else we saw in San Francisco. Stay tuned this week for details on these new, #madebygoogle products.

Pixel Phone

While Google didn’t tout this year’s event as a “Pixel launch”, the new Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 were, without a doubt, the most consumer-facing product at the show.

The only real surprise from Google’s flagship phones was the fact that they share the same features including the SnapDragon 835 (not 836, sad face) and FRONT FACING SPEAKERS!!! Yes, we’re excited about that.

Just like last year, we will make an exception and review the new Pixel phones because, well, we want to and they’re #madebygoogle. It scored a 98 on the DcOMark camera rating. It’s kind of a big deal.

Google Home Mini and Max

Adding to the expanding ecosystem of Assistant-enabled speakers, Google launched to rumored Google Home Mini which will go toe-to-toe with the Amazon Echo Dot. At $49, the tiny Home speaker gives you that same capability as the original Home only in a smaller, more aesthetically flexible speaker that is about the size of a donut.

We got our hands on a Mini and are bringing it back home with us. We will have some first impressions later this week.

The Google Home Max was probably the most surprising hardware announcement yesterday as the rumors of its existence surfaced just last week. The $399 intuitive sound box uses machine learning to optimize its output based on surroundings.

Google Clips

Another recent leak, the Google Clips camera is a wearable device that uses machine learning to look for good moments to capture photos so you never miss that perfect shot. It can also be used as a remote camera with the corresponding app on your phone. Very interested in testing this one out.

Pixel Buds

The Pixel 2 phones have axed the headphone jack so Google decided to offset the salty masses with a new type of in-ear headphones. The Pixel Buds host a number of unique features like Assistant optimization and in-case charging. For Pixel phone users, there are some incredible tricks you can do with the $159 headphones and we will highlight those later.

Daydream View

The second iteration of Google’s VR headset features a heatsink, much-improved lenses and a new look. We also heard from the Daydream team that the ability to Cast your VR experience would finally be arriving soon. (presumably with the launch of the Pixel 2)

The other side of Google’s event revolvled around the melding of AI, software and hardware. We will share more tomorrow about some very intriguing new projects from Google as well as some new features and apps you can look forward to from Mountain View.

In the meantime, check out this snazzy little video showcasing everything new that’s #madebygoogle.

Share With Your People:

Post navigation

About Gabriel Brangers

Lover of all things coffee. Foodie for life. Passionate drummer, hobby guitar player, Web designer and proud Army Veteran. I have come to drink coffee and tell the world of all things Chrome. “Whatever you do, Carpe the heck out of that Diem” – Roman poet, Horace. Slightly paraphrased.

Zach Mauch

How did you get the specific processor used in the pixel book. I only saw it called an i5 or i7. I would love if it was a i5-7Y57, but the benchmark from a few weeks back was a i5-7Y54. Also, the you called the i7 a i7-7Y57. I believe you meant i7-7Y75.

Gabriel Brangers

You are correct. It is i7-7Y75 and these are the specs listed on BH Photo. Will verify in the morning.

Rick Osterloh and Sundar Pichai should be fired. Their Google Hardware pricing strategy is incompetent and it is hurting the world.

All Google hardware has failed except the correctly priced Chromecast.

Google’s constant hardware failures are crimes against humanity. Sundar Pichai was born in India, yet with these overpriced hardware announcements, he doesn’t seem to care about getting Indian people better technology to make their lives better.

A company like Google, the biggest company in the world, where all tech PHDs desperately want to work, has a responsibility to bring better electronics hardware to the world, to make the world a better place. Google fails and fails constantly due to their complete lack of basic understanding of Google’s very important role that they must play in the hardware industry.

Google is an advertising company. Google cannot be trying to be in the business of copying Apple’s overpriced hardware business strategy. Halve the prices on all Google hardware now. It’s an executive decision that Rick Osterloh and Sundar Pichai easily can make. Google’s hardware costs less than 25% of retail pricing to mass manufacture. There is zero reason they can’t adjust the retail pricing to 50% of current announced prices accordingly.

Want to immitate Steve Jobs method? Steve Jobs reduced iPhone1’s subsidized price by $200 a few weeks after the release of the iPhone1. Early adopters were given $200 Apple Store credit for having been first few in line to pay $200 too much on contract. ($599 + 2 year contract was quickly reduced to $399 + 2 year contract for iPhone1). But here it’s never too late to reduce the price as long as you haven’t actually yet launched the product!

Pixel2 must be priced $299-$349 unsusidized
Pixel2 XL must be $349-$399 unsubsidized
announce that only first batches will not include the headphone jack, that a second batch is in preparation to include the headphone jack, that sorry it was a mistake to not include the headphone jack, Rick Osterloh was fired.
Pixelbook must be $499
Add an ARM Powered Pixelbook with pen in slot at $299 with OP1 or OP2 processor, add it before the end of the year
Google Home must be $69
Google Home Max must be $199
Google Home Mini must be $29
Google’s fancy new wireless translation earphones at $69
Chromecast Ultra must be $39
Chromecast2 $25
Daydream VR headset 2 at $49
Halve the prices of all Nest products instantly.

Pixel2 phones and Android 8.1 needs to add a Samsung Dex like external secondary display productivity mode UI, add $29 Desktop Dock and $199 LaptopDock that has near same component quality as Pixelbook but where the phone acts as CPU, Memory, Connectivity.

My prices are not too low, these devices can be mass manufactured at as low as 50% of the prices that I am stating here. And when Google sells these devices on Google Play or through large volume distribution, there is plenty enough margin to work with to not lose any money on hardware. Google makes all their money later on advertising. Some advertising supported web services can also be transformed to be paid services, let Google users pay to not have advertising if that’s what they prefer.

Don’t tell me you think Google would lose money pricing these devices at the prices that I say. The Pixel2 costs less than $200 to manufacture. The Plastic OLED Based Pixel2 XL only costs about $50 more to mass manufacture. The Pixelbook also costs less than $400 to mass manufacture and it would be about $150 cheapoer to mass manufacture an ARM Powered version of the Pixelbook. All these Google Home devices are cheap to mass manufacture even considering the high quality materials and speakers, Daydream VR costs very little to manufacture. Google is NOT in the business of copying Apple. You don’t destroy Apple by copying them. Google will make most money on advertising and promoting their platforms that these exemplary devices run on, Google must NOT try to make large amounts of profits selling hardware. Apple and others do not have Google’s advantage of being able to make money afterwards on the advertising strategy. Google must adopt a strategy to destroy Apple urgently. iOS must be exterminated. Apple must be pressured to adopt Android for iPhone9.

Sundar Pichai, I know you are reading here, execute these price changes now. It’s not too late. Just say you got an idea and changed your mind, you decided to be more aggressive with the hardware. Sell hundreds of millions of these devices to the world, now, this year. Chinese suppliers can easily scale according to demand. Don’t only sell to 7 countries, sell worldwide from day 1. You execute one or two orders of magnitude higher order quantities and they will deliver without a problem. And then these Google hardware devices can make a difference to the world for the better.

Jo Stepaniak

Has anyone ever tried the protection plan from Amazon? If so, how was response time and service?

Billy Donovan

The Deal breaker for me is that They are asking 999 for the Pixelbook and there is no way to store they pen in the device. So now we have to remember to bring it with us when we travel. and hopefully we dont forget it or even lose it at some point. This should have been thought of especially at this price point.